FRANKFORT, Ky. (NEWSnet/AP) — On a recent day under the July sun, three men heaved solar panels onto the roof of a house near the Kentucky River.

Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act offers a 30% discount for that type of installation, via tax credit. That's helping to push clean energy into places where coal still provides inexpensive electricity. For Heather Baggett’s family in Frankfort, it was a good deal.

“For us, it's not politically motivated,” said Baggett. “It really came down to financially, it made sense.”

IRA was signed into law Aug. 16, 2022. Since then, nearly 80 major clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced, an investment equal to the previous seven years combined, according to American Clean Power Association. It has prompted investment in a massive buildout of battery and EV manufacturing. 

“It seems like every week, there’s a new factory facility (being announced) somewhere,” said Jesse Jenkins, a professor at Princeton and leader of the REPEAT Project, which is involved in analysis of the law. “We’ve been talking about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America for my entire life. We’re finally doing it, right? That’s pretty exciting."

IRA is the nation’s most significant response to climate change, after decades of lobbying by oil, gas and coal interests stalled action.

One target of the law is cleaner transportation, a major source of pollution. Siemens, one of the largest tech companies in the world, produces charging stations for EVs. Executives say this alignment of U.S. policy on climate is driving higher demand for batteries.

Derrick Flakoll, North America policy associate at Bloomberg NEF, said sales at First Solar, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the U.S., skyrocketed after the law was passed, creating a backlog of orders.

Such changes may be only the beginning, experts say.

“I think we’re about to see a quite a flood of investment in wind and solar-related manufacturing in the U.S.,” Jenkins said, adding that 2026 to 2028 is when the country will see the law's full impact.

Congressional Budget Office initially estimated the IRA’s tax credits would cost about $270 billion over one decade. But Brookings says businesses might take advantage of the credits more aggressively and the federal government could pay three or four times more.

The law is supposed to reduce emissions by as much as 41% by 2030, according to a analysis by Princeton researchers.

Not everyone likes it. Some lawmakers recently proposed repealing major elements of the law. Frankfort resident Jessie Decker, whose neighbor has solar panels, said he won’t consider them, and doesn’t think the federal government should be “wasting money” on dubious climate programs.

Nor does the law mean oil and gas will disappear.

“Frankly, we are going to be using fossil fuels for many decades to come,” said Fred Eames, a regulatory attorney with Hunton Andrews Kurth.

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